gtx 280 sli pci 16 vs 8

[Caesah]

Im considering buying a second gtx 280 to run in sli mode but im unsure how big of a performance hit ill get with my current mobo (MSI P7N SLI-FI 750i). MSI Computer Corp. - Product The board supports one PCIE 2.0 X16 mode, and supports 8X+8X in SLI mode. I was wondering how the two cards would compare in two sli x8 vs one in x16. Ive looked on the net and cant really find a sure answer on this. Could use some help determining if its worth purchasing a second card or not considering the performance hit if there is one.

My rig.
Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Q9550 @ 2.83GHz
4 gigs PC6400 DDR2/800
Asetek Liquid CPU Cooling System
single 500GB SATA-II
MSI P7N SLI-FI 750i
Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Home Premium
Nzxt PP600 Watt Power Supply-SLI
Evga GTX 280 (another one?)

 

[xguntherc]

Nice system, with that CPU, and watercooling. you should overclock that baby to 3.8 Ghz and enjoy some games.

also one GTX280 probably works plenty fine. but 2 would be better. I'd think it would still perform better even at 8x SLI

If you're thinkin of getting a second. Clearly you can afford it. I'd say give it a try. if your not impressed with the results. Send it back. lol. or Donate it to me!

 

[chiefmasterjedi]

If you go for another GTX280 then you'd better upgrade your power supply too, 600 watts ain't gonna cut it (unless it has some serious amperage). Also what size monitor do you have? @ 1680x1050 you wont see a lot of improvement in most games only in benchmarks will you gain anything, unless you play Crysis Warhead maxed out.

I'm not trying to put you off SLI (look at my specs) but i've not gained much by adding another 8800GTX except in Crysis. But it's worth buying just to piddle your friends off

 

[Mr GRiM]

I was reading a review on the 4870x2 against other cards in crossfire and SLI and some of the results were very interesting, the new GTX260 216 core in SLI outperformed a GTX280 in SLI in several test in various resolutions. ATI also have a new 4870 1GB card and that seems to doing well with some slight improvment from the old one, but when it came to playing Race Driver GRID that card was flying and was better than the GTX260/280. Most games were dominated by the 4870x2 and GTX280 but level of perfomance between the GTX260 216 core and GTX 280 was just about even in most tests, I would seell the GTX280 and buy a couple of the new GTX260's, they also dont use as much power and run alot cooler than the GTX280 + you could pick up two of those for the price of a GTX280.

Here is the link for those reviews
GPUs - The Tech Report

http://www.techreport.com/articles.x/15293

 

[Caesah]

My monitor is an acer p243w 24" tn panel. 2 ms =x